The Philippines’ Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) has recently convened the implementing agencies of the Philippines National Business One-Stop Shop (NBOSS) for a simulation of the initiative.
About Philippines National Business One-Stop Shop (NBOSS)
According to a recent press release, NBOSS is an initiative of ARTA, in collaboration with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the implementing agencies.
It will co-locate, unify as well as automate the services of the national government agencies to provide convenience to the public by accepting applications of company registrations in a central location.
NBOSS aims to improve the Philippines’ score in the Starting a Business indicator for the World Bank’s Doing Business report.
Present during the simulation were ARTA, the implementing agencies, the World Bank International Finance Commission, and the New Zealand Ambassador to the Philippines David Strachan.
The implementing agencies are:
- Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
- Social Security System (SSS)
- Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR)
- Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth)
- Home Development Mutual Fund or Pag-IBIG Fund
The DICT provided them with the demonstration of the end-to-end online company registration process lodged to Phase 1 of the Central Business Portal (CBP), which was launched by DICT last October 2019.
In addition, the simulation served as a venue to test the process flow of the CBP system, which will include company name verification, unified form, unified employer and employee reporting, and payment of fees.
All of these will be made possible online once the system is completely implemented.
Purpose
ARTA Director-General Belgica explained that apart from its enforcement initiatives in combatting the red tape problem, ARTA highly recognises the significance of these kinds of initiatives.
These initiatives are aimed at improving the ease of doing business in the country, thereby boosting the government’s economic development efforts.
Particularly, ARTA seeks to improve the country’s rankings in the DB Report as it provides foreign investors with an insight on how it would be like for them to do business in the Philippines.
Virtual Pag-IBIG
After the simulation, the Director-General also participated in the launch of Virtual Pag-IBIG. The Virtual Pag-IBIG will allow its members to:
- Accomplish their transactions such as Membership ID number
- Remit and pay for their contributions and loan amortisations
- View their savings and loan records online
The Director General commends this initiative by Pag-IBIG as it shows that if a government agency wills it, they can effect technological change that will bring government service up to speed with the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0).
As reported, the Virtual Pag-IBIG has been a long-term project of the Fund. Before launching, the support systems have been prepared and the security of the database has been put in place.
Having this new service can be likened to having a personal Pag-IBIG Fund branch within the members’ fingertips.
Members can do their transactions online, anytime and anywhere by merely having a smartphone and an Internet connection.
A real-time chat facility also allows members to talk to Pag-IBIG Fund service personnel to address any concerns.
Members have been clamouring for this kind of service and the agency is glad to finally unveil it.
